Why Bother?
by Debbie the Fabulous
Summary: Established Polarshipping, AU, OneShot. Mai and Katsuya have a date, but Mai is still getting ready. What is Katsuya's approach to the subject? T for safety.


**DISCLAIMER! I DO NOT OWN **Yu-Gi-Oh!**, its characters, plots, or anything even remotely associated with it.**

I needed a break from life, turned on the iPod I've killed so many times but still works for me, and what should come on but my favorite song that I completely forgot about when I got a phone!

This goes out to you, darkrunner, for being the awesomeness first person ever to have me on alert; I know we haven't actually talked, but it does mean a lot to me, no matter how long ago that was. Also, I'm sorry I couldn't think of anything to extend it, but hopefully this will fill the void.

Enjoy~!

* * *

Jounouchi Katsuya knocked on the plain white door again with a heavy sigh before glancing back down at the D-Shock Yuugi had given him for his birthday back at the beginning of the year; _How long does it take for a girl to answer the door? I'm freezing!_

He turned around to look at the vacant street and tapped his foot against the scratchy "_Welcome!_" mat as he pulled his staple, light brown suede trench coat tighter around his form. He exhaled and watched, as if in a daze, the way the wispy white smoke spiraled up and disappeared into the darkness of the cold winter night. His teeth chattered and he knew his nose was rose pink by now, but it didn't matter; he had a date with the prettiest girl in all of Domino.

"Kujaku Mai..." he sighed wistfully, a small smile tugging at the corners of his purple-tinged lips; his love for her burned like the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, but he could never tell her that.

_Not in a million years!_ He thought, tucking his chin into his chest and pulling his collar up. _Or at least not until I know she likes me as much as I like her._

He remembered when he met her for the first time the year before; he'd been walking the mall with his friends, window-shopping, as there was nothing else he could do at the time, when he saw her; she was so beautiful, and even in the dead-middle of winter, she wore little clothing—a pair of purple, heeled leather boots that came up to the middle of her calves, a mere purple skirt that stopped mid-thigh, a white lace-up top revealing part of her midriff and doing little in the way of hiding her valuables, and a thin purple jacket—but that's not at all what caught the young duelist's eye, no! The dormant romantic within him was roused by her flame, her spark, her fighting spirit! The fact the she was drop-dead gorgeous was just a major bonus, as far as Katsuya was concerned.

He had turned for a fraction of a second to locate his best friend, Yuugi—short as the teen was, it was easy for him to get lost in crowds—and saw, just on the other side of the crowded food court, two questionable young men snickering behind their hands and nodding in a certain direction. When one of the two moved across, staring at his "helpless" prey, Katsuya moved as well, quickly sweeping the room to find whoever the young man had his eye one; women were not just things, and he hated guys that had just that idea.

Finally he found her, and put an extra spring in his step, but was pulled back with an annoyingly familiar, "Where ya goin', Jou-kun? Don't get lost now!"

The young duelist looked up and found his other best friend, Honda Hiroto, grinning down at him.

"Let me go!" Katsuya had exclaimed, trying to free himself from the teen's grasp.

This had thrown the brunette off guard, but he obliged anyway and watched with mild confusion as his friend stood and made for the other end of the food court, but stopped halfway through; he didn't see what Katsuya was seeing, so he shrugged and just asked that the rest of the gang wait for whatever it was the blonde was waiting for.

Once Katsuya had been let go, he scanned the room for the girl once more, made for her, but stopped dead in his tracks when his brain registered what he was seeing; the man had, of course, beat him to the girl, but that's not what stopped him. What stopped him was the fact that she seemed to have no problem at all with the guy obviously only looking for a good time; in fact... she almost looked like she _wanted_ to make the guy happy.

Normally, Katsuya would have turned back right then and there, since it was her choice if she wanted to date for pay and it wasn't any of his business, but just as he decided to, her thin smile turned into a wide grin, and her violet eyes glittered with amusement.

She pushed the guy away and laughed, long and loud, in the guy's face, and the harmonious sound echoed off of every surface, creating a sort of symphony to the blonde boy's ears.

She could handle herself, and he liked that.

His feet moved before he even realized he wanted them to, and before long, he had found himself face to face with the girl.

"H-hi..." he stuttered, immediately regretting it as the girl looked up with a smirk.

"Hey there," she cooed, making his heart skip a beat. "You seem like a 'nice guy,' but in case you didn't see that little exchange I had about twenty seconds ago with that loser over there," she said, pointing to said loser, "I'm not interested."

Katsuya blanched and the girl took the opportunity to attempt an escape, but he soon regained his ability to communicate, much to her dismay.

"Wait!" he called, moving in front of her. "I'm not... I'm not like them," Katsuya assured, searching the depths of her violet eyes for some sort of response.

That was a first for her; no guy ever talked to her and made eye contact before hitting on her, nor had she ever seen someone that hadn't come waltzing up to her like he put the pocket in pita.

She smiled, but settled on a test; "Oh? And why should I believe that? I don't know how many times I've rejected one guy, only to have another strut up to me and say he was different," she drawled, pretending to inspect her nails. "What makes you different?"

The teen was silent and the girl was sure she had won, but just as she made to move around him, he spoke; "Just give me a chance."

She looked down at him.

"Huh?"

He looked up at her.

"Just give me a chance," he repeated, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

She tilted her head in a curious fashion and studied him for a bit, but his gaze didn't falter once.

He almost jumped for joy when she smiled and replied, "Sure. Why not?"

Since then, they had been on multiple "dates;" outings to various malls where Katsuya would spend every hard-earned paycheck on her material "needs," but he didn't mind; it was for Mai.

And that's how he ended up outside her door once again a year later, waiting in the negative degree weather for her to be done getting dressed.

They were actually just going for a walk through the park; Katsuya remembered when he took her to the mall last week, she had mentioned in passing that she liked seeing the holiday spirit and decorations, so he figured that if he couldn't afford to make her eyes light up like the average American Christmas tree, he could at least make them glitter.

He turned back to the door and raised his fist to rap on it once more, and almost couldn't stop the motion as it swiftly swung open, revealing the woman; the one and only, worthy-to-be-called-a-super-model Kujaku Mai.

Amber eyes raked slowly up and down her form; she looked amazing. Her unruly-but-still-somehow-beautiful blonde locks had been swept together into ponytail, and now her bangs framed her face wonderfully; she had on little cosmetics, but she didn't need them since she had that natural beauty, that natural glow, about her that all girls had but chose to ignore; she wore a simple black turtle neck that accented her curves and skin-tight jeans that warmed Katsuya right up in all the wrong ways for the occasion.

When his eyes found her face again, she looked frantic.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she said, a tight smile pinned on her face. Katsuya nodded absently and she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the doorway as she continued, "I know it's cold outside, but I'm still not ready..." Her melodious voice was muffled and faint to Katsuya, like he had cotton in his ears; he was still caught up on how stunning she was. "...not even dressed, my hair's a mess, I have to put on my make-up..."

He nodded every once in a while, pretending he was listening as she led him through the small space and to her living room, where she pushed him down onto the couch next to the space heater. It took the space heater quite a long time to melt the block of ice that had formed around his brain and slowed his train of thought, but once awake, Katsuya frowned; how was she _not_ ready yet?

He glanced back down at his D-Shock and furrowed his brow; it was nine-thirty now, and he had told her at five to be ready.

Looking up at the ceiling, another sigh fell from his once-again-rosy lips; he had even told her what to be ready for, and in all honesty, he hadn't expected her to say yes to this date as she had so far turned down every date that didn't involve buying things for her. He was almost regretting it now, since for every other date, she always seemed to be ready before he ever even offered to take her to the mall.

He stood and looked around at the small apartment and wondered how it could be so barren; in the living room, there was only the couch, the space heater, and the television. He craned his neck around and looked into the kitchen through the open doorway; there were almost no pots or pans, and there weren't any pictures of family or tacky magnets on the refrigerator.

He moved around the couch to the hall connecting the spaces, but there was still nothing outstanding about her living quarters, so he followed it, and, of course, found her room at the end. The door was ajar, but he didn't know if that meant he was allowed in or if she just didn't close it right.

Taking a chance, he pushed it open more and found his date sitting on what was probably a chair from a dining room set in front of her dresser, applying... _something_... to her face; it looked a lot like colored whipped cream, but Katsuya pushed aside the kinky possibilities for the moment.

"What are ya doin'?" he blurted, making the girl look up and, apparently, completely ruin whatever it was she had been doing.

She let out a small growl of frustration and took the towel that hung lazily over the end of one of the open drawers and rubbed her face furiously.

"I'm putting on my make-up!" came the annoyed, muffled response. When she put down the towel, she looked up at Katsuya through the mirror briefly, found him leaning nonchalant against the door frame, and frowned. "What?"

He shrugged and moved to her bed, where he let himself fall back on it.

"Why bother?"

She leaned forward and began again with the special, divine, and fine art of mixing creams.

"Because," she answered simply, watching him through the mirror as he sat up and stared at her blankly. "What!"

"You were fine before," Katsuya stated flatly, as if it were obvious. "You look amazing. We can walk out the door right now," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder as if to emphasize his point.

Mai shook her head with a small smile and went back to mixing her creams; it was the oldest trick in the book—the girl is late and the guy says she looks fine to get her out the door, but it wouldn't work on her. "As if," she muttered, dabbing the small triangular pad into the pale substance and proceeding to smear it on her face.

She watched the edge of the mirror but continued her actions as her date stood and made his way over to her.

He stood behind her and she froze as his arms circled her waist. He buried his nose in her neck and sighed.

"You really are beautiful..." he whispered. His hot breath tickled her neck and she blushed hotly as he continued; "...do you know that?"

"I know that I need to finish getting ready," she said, shakily pushing his arms aside and leaned forward, closer to the mirror once more, but just as she was about to apply more of the cold cream, she made the mistake of looking up at Katsuya through the cool glass.

"Stop staring at me like that! I'm not an abused animal!" she cried, unable to keep the annoyance from her voice.

He flinched back with surprise and heaved a heavy sigh, but said nothing regarding the previous statement. Instead, he asked, tone soft, "Why don't you believe me?"

This threw the girl for another loop; guys that wanted her out the door never kept on the subject. They usually just growled and went back to the living room, flipped on the television, and, occasionally, fell asleep.

Her eyes darted up to his and she found an unnerving amount of hurt in them.

"I..."

She froze; why _didn't_ she believe him?

Was it because her heart had subconsciously counted and determined that so far, she had only ever been told she was beautiful when she was wearing make-up, or was it because all of the guys that had called her beautiful were sleaze balls, and only wanted her for her body?

Her gaze darted up; Katsuya was now looking down, not at her, waiting for a response.

She frowned as she thought; Katsuya, in all of their dates, had never once made a physical advance of any kind, instead waiting for her to initiate them, and, while her heart did count all the times she had been called beautiful, it also sorted that every time Katsuya had done so, she hadn't been wearing quite as much make-up usual. If that didn't sway her, she also realized that the younger said absolutely nothing regarding beauty when she _did_ plaster a mask to her face.

_It's just a coincidence_, the voice in her head echoed.

"Because I'm not..." she answered finally, putting the cream down and folding her hands in her lap. "...and I never have been..." she continued, lowering her voice even more; "...and I never will be..."

She didn't hear anything that indicated Katsuya had even moved—a rustle of clothes, a slight change in breathing; nothing—and so she was caught completely by surprise when he came into her steadily blurring vision.

Suddenly, he was on his knees beside her, and he took her hands in his and smiled softly.

"You _are_ beautiful, and you always _have_ been, and you always _will_ be," he said.

He took the towel sprawled on the top of the dresser and ran it gently along the places that still had the pale cream.

"You are _the_ most amazing, wonderful, beautiful girl I have _ever_ met," he said, putting the towel aside once more and standing, bringing her up with him before he continued, "and I want you to see that."

He took her by the shoulders and turned her to the mirror, and she could hear him hum faintly as her eyes scanned her natural, alien form.

She didn't know how long she stood there, taking in what Katsuya thought was beautiful, but she knew she was getting annoyed by whatever song he was humming.

She didn't bother looking at him as she sighed and said, annoyed, "If that song is stuck in your head, go ahead and sing it to get it out."

She caught his grin in the mirror, though, and frowned.

"What?"

"You want me to sing it?" he asked, looking her over as if she couldn't handle it.

"If it'll get you to shut up, yeah," she quipped.

He shrugged and brought her into his arms again and held her close, humming softly until he found a suitable place to being singing.

"_I love you in life...__"_

She hated to admit it, but he was actually a decent singer. It was a vaguely familiar tune, but he had slowed it down quite a bit, holding out each note longer than it was.

"_...as I fear losing you in death__..."_

_That's a cute line_, she thought distractedly; Katsuya had taken the liberty of leading her into a little dance.

_"...and bear you in mind..."_

_It has a pretty melody, too_, she pondered, letting the taller blonde spin her out and bring her back in.

_"...with every waking breath."_

_How sweet..._

Katsuya planted his hands her waist once more and he lifted her up.

"_And w__hen I dream__..."_

She giggled at the sensation and how weightless she felt.

"_...__I dream of only you__..."_

He brought her back down and looked down at her lovingly.

".._.because y__ou're the only 'you'...__"_

He leaned in, and she didn't resist.

"..._I'll ever be in to.__"_

_. . ._

_. . ._

_. . ._

...and Katsuya _finally_ got lucky.

* * *

. . .

. . .

. . .

How many of you loled at the end?

*crickets chirping*

No?

Just me?

. . .

Oh well.

The original song that was supposed to be at the end was Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are," but I completely forgot (and only recently realized) that songfics weren't allowed.

No biggie, really; I've fixed it (though the little poem I made up is disgustingly horrible), and now there's one less songfic cluttering up the archives and threatening our precious FFN.

Stay Fabulous~! :D


End file.
